The present invention generally relates to a pager and a method for operating a pager, and in particular, to a pager and a method for operating a pager by which sending a reply message back to the sender is made possible.
Description of the Related Art
Various kinds of pagers for receiving radio calling or radio paging via a radio paging service are on the market and the number of subscribers of the radio paging service is remarkably increasing. These days, many of the pagers are provided with functions for receiving and displaying messages which is sent from the caller or the sender. A radio calling signal or a radio paging signal which is including the message from the sender is transmitted by the radio paging service, and the pager receives the radio calling signal and displays the message included in the signal. The types of characters which can be displayed by a pager depends on the pager, and increasing number of pagers are provided with functions for displaying characters other than numbers, such as alphabets, symbols, etc.
However, the conventional pagers are terminal units which are designed for receiving messages only and are not provided with functions for replying, and thus, in order to let the sender of the message know that the message has been correctly received, the recipient of the message is forced to make contact with the sender by giving the sender a phone call from public telephones or portable telephones, or by sending a reply message via a radio paging service by dialing a telephone number of a pager of the sender from public telephones or portable telephones, etc.
Meanwhile, a terminal unit which includes a portable telephone for sending messages only and has functions for receiving messages via a radio paging service and displaying the message, has been disclosed in Japanese Utility Model Application Laid-Open No.HEI7-7287. With this kind of terminal unit, the user of the terminal unit who has received a paging message from a sender can dial the correct telephone number of the sender by looking at the telephone number in the message which is displayed on an LCD etc. of the terminal unit, and inform the sender of reception of the message.
However, with this type of terminal unit, in order to let the sender know about reception of the message, the user of the terminal unit is required to operate the terminal unit and dial the telephone number of the sender and tell the sender that the message has been correctly received. Therefore, in situations where dialing and talking are impossible, for example during a meeting etc., it is impossible to inform the sender of reception of the message.
Further, with this type of terminal unit, during the dialing operation by the user, the user may push the wrong buttons or take a considerably long time for inputting a reply message. Therefore, a lot of extra telephone charges may be needed with this type of terminal unit.